The moon passed by quickly. Emberpaw have passed his accessment and Froststar had just gathered the clan.

"Silvercloud," she addressed Emberpaw's mentor. "Are you sure that Emberpaw is ready?"

"He is more than ready," she purred in reply. Froststar nodded and Emberpaw looked eagerly at her.

"I, Froststar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn," she mewed.

"Emberpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and to defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Froststar asked.

"I do," he replied confidently.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name: Emberpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Emberstorm. StarClan honours your courage and commitment, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan," she smiled as she spoke.

"Emberstorm! Emberstorm!" the clan called out.

"I would like to inform the clan about something," the new warrior mewed as the calls died down. "Honeyfrost is my mate and she is expecting kits."

Happy purrs came from the clan, and some went to Honeyfrost to congratulate her. Emberstorm went to start his vigil after mewing something in his mate's ear.

~~~~

Silvercloud flinched when a cat's tail brushed on her fur. To her surprise, she saw her former apprentice, who is supposed to do his vigil.

"I smell intruders," he whispered. "Froststar is out of camp with Appleshade and Patchheart, so I came to tell you."

Silvercloud nodded, prodding the cat beside her, which is Timberclaw, awake. Slowly, they managed to wake up all the warriors present in the camp.

They heard a screech outside that made Silvercloud rush to the clearing. Appleshade was already in the clearing, battling a few intruders. Patchheart just went through the thorn barrier with Froststar following at his paws.

"Defend the camp!" she yowled, raking her claws down the pelt of a nearby rogue.

Timberclaw launched himself into the thickest of fighting, along with his littermate, Dewsplash.

Froststar was swiping rapidly at two rogues, distracted. Another cat, who is black and gray, took the opportunity to pounce onto her.

"Froststar, look out!" Silvercloud screeched.

She looked up and saw her enemy, and it seemed that there was no time to dodge. Suddenly, a cream coloured tom intercepted the attack, and both of them crashed into one another.

The cream tom grunted with pain as blood flowed out. "Patchheart!" Stormleaf yowled in alarm.

"Longdrop!" Froststar spat, getting up with her claws out. The former ThunderClan warrior smirked, unharmed from the pounce.

"Surrender now!" he growled, darting towards the ThunderClan leader.

While Longdrop ran towards Froststar, Patchheart weakly lunged forward and tripped him.

"Fool!" he spat, clawing at Patchheart's wounded pelt. The cream warrior yowled in pain but was too tired to retaliate.

With a furious yowl, Froststar crashed into Longdrop, viciously raking her claws on his face.

Stormleaf quickly brought her son to Stagwind, who was shoving away a rogue. "Sunstream!" she called. "Treat the others!"

Emberstorm was fighting side by side with Grassheart while Goldenfeather was rolling away from a snarling rogue.

Appleshade bit down on a rogue's pelt and Icetail unbalanced the rogue. Rockpelt kicked down one, and almost got clawed by a frenzy of swiping claws.

Specklebreeze was dragging herself to the medicine cat den while Lilyflower was struggling to defend herself as he was limping.

Froststar was pinned down by Longdrop and a few other rogues, including Jaws. "Coward!" she snarled. "Ganging on one instead of honorable fighting!"

"Any last words?" he growled with a smirk and before she could reply, he began to rise his claws for the death blow...

~~~~

"We have arrived," Feather mewed triumphantly. "Follow me." The brown tom stepped outside, and he achingly remembered the forest that he was raised in.

"I will have to go now," he mewed. "Thank you, for everything."

The white she-cat dipped her head. "You're welcome. I can tell that your heart always belong there, no matter what. All these time traveling here I saw your look of anticipation."

The brown tom immediately felt guilty. "You would be lonely again."

"Nevermind," Feather purred. "I have that grumpy tom for company anyways! Now go back home. Your family, your kin, is missing you."

The brown tom smiled and pelted off. It was already half way into the night, but he could still make his way to the camp.

The sounds of screeching, fighting cat surprised him, and he climbed a tree to look over the camp.

The clearing was littered with clumps of fur and blood, and ThunderClan warriors were fighting with rogues.

Many of them he could not recognise, but he saw Icepaw (Icetail), who was a young apprentice when he last seen him.

He heard a familiar yowl of alarm and he saw a cream she-cat struggling with a black and gray tom.

A light gray and white she-cat lay panting beside him, with no energy to save the cream she-cat.

"No!" he screeched when the black and gray tom got ready to bite the she-cat's throat. He pounced in with fury in his eyes.

~~~~

... but it never came. Stormleaf shoved Longdrop away from her and they swiped at each other.

It was obvious that Longdrop was the better fighter, as he began beating her badly. He unbalanced her with one swipe and bared his teeth.

"One less enemy is much better!" he growled, ready to bite on her throat.

Froststar suddenly heard a screech, and a brown tom crashed into Longdrop with furious claws.

The two fighting toms fought so fast that they became blurrs. Finally, the brown tom bit on Longdrop's tail and the rogue yowled, "Retreat!"

He glared at the brown tom. "This isn't over, whoever you are!"

Longdrop pelted away with the rest of the rogues. Stormleaf stared at the brown tom with shock and Froststar felt confused.

"Froststar," she mewed slowly.

"Meet my brother, Spikepaw."

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A/N: Epic cliffhanger! Finally, you all get to know the identity of the brown tom. :D